Solutions

Chartered in 1895, Northern Illinois University (NIU) is a comprehensive teaching and research institution with a student enrollment of more than 20,000. Energy Systems Group partnered with NIU to develop a number of successful comprehensive energy efficiency and infrastructure improvement projects. By implementing these projects with ESG, the University has avoided over $39 Million in capital expenditures and will realize over $50 Million in energy savings.

In addition to the capital avoidance and operational savings, the energy conservation projects had and will continue to have a positive impact on the environment. The various campus-wide improvement projects included the installation of a central chilled water plant, energy-efficient HVAC systems, building controls, new windows and doors, over 80,000 energy-efficient light fixtures throughout 56 buildings, occupancy sensors, and solar panels for pool heating.

Since 2000, Energy Systems Group has developed energy conservation measures and energy infrastructure improvements across the Northern Illinois University (NIU) campus, thereby reducing NIU’s carbon footprint by more than 425,525 metric tons of carbon dioxide, which is equivalent to removal of greenhouse emissions from 73,691 passenger vehicles, or Planting 103,167 acres of pine trees.

As the fifth largest city in Tennessee, the City of Murfreesboro was seeking ways to improve and modernize infrastructure. Murfreesboro's primary goals were to improve livability and workability for community members, standardize building technologies to simplify operations and reduce maintenance costs, and reduce energy waste. Despite having a strategic plan and a list of projects, it was difficult for the city council to prioritize which projects to pursue first. Energy Systems Group provided the necessary consultative approach to help the City of Murfreesboro develop a plan to prioritize and accomplish actionable projects, successfully moving the city’s vision into reality.

Teaming with ESG, the City of Murfreesboro was able to build a solid plan that prioritized projects that could be implemented quickly and generate more than $11 million in energy and operational savings over the 15-year period. Working as a team, city facility managers and operators, along with ESG engineers, surveyed buildings and strategized the best approach to meeting the city’s goals. Together, they focused on 27 buildings including the St. Clair Senior Center, the City Hall complex, Patterson Community Park Complex, the Fire Administration buildings, and the Sports Complex.

By implementing numerous upgrades, such as LED lighting, HVAC system conversions, chiller and boiler replacements, systems controller installations, window replacements, water conservation measures, faucet aerators, and pool enhancements, the city was able to obtain energy savings of nearly 30 percent. The City of Murfreesboro was also able to upgrade security systems at the senior center and enhance select building interiors. The city’s teaming with ESG has been so successful that the city requested a second phase of projects to further enhance and upgrade city infrastructure.

As the home of Mission Control, International Space Station operations, the Orion Program, and various other exploration missions, JSC is one of NASA’s largest sites. Grid outages, whether through capacity constraint, weather related crises, or otherwise, accentuated the need for increased resiliency in support of the critical missions taking place. JSC needed to align with agency goals, ensure power supply, and desired microgrid islanding capability. Competitively selected, ESG developed the first CHP project, and most significant ESPC, in NASA history, enhancing energy and mission surety in a capacity constrained region. The microgrid project will offset purchased electricity and steam with on-site cogeneration of 11.9 MW of electricity and 100,000 lb/hr steam. Electrical power generation of the combustion turbines will be supplemented by a back pressure steam turbine generator. Power output from the CHP plant will be via interconnect at two substations, both primary components of the distribution system. The interconnects will ensure power to critical loads such as Mission Control. The project alone achieves Site Energy Intensity Reduction goals through 2020, and has a visible impact on agency-wide goals.

Annual Energy and Operational Savings over $3.9 Million

Housed on the U.S. Army’s Fort Detrick base, the National Interagency Biodefense Campus (NIBC) is the largest secured campus of biosafety level 3 and 4 laboratories in the world. ESG designed and constructed a microgrid system to ensure that critical utilities on the campus remain operational in the event of utility grid failures. ESG is responsible for on-site operations and maintenance of the microgrid, with follow-on work including the extending of direct-buried steam, condensate, and chilled water distribution systems. High-pressure steam and chilled water generation is provided to individual campus load centers via utility interconnections for a fully redundant distribution loop. Providing turnkey design, engineering, installation, commissioning, and procurement for steam and chilled water lateral pipelines, ESG also extended the existing duct banks to the Navy Medical Bio-Defense Research Lab transformers to connect it to the microgrid. Further, ESG provided steam supply and condensate return connections, chilled water supply and return connections, and electrical connection to the new USAMRIID facility. Completed in 2015, it is the largest, most complex biocontainment facility ever built.

NAS Jacksonville, one of the Navy’s fastest growing installations, is the largest base in the Navy’s Southeast Region, and is the third largest Naval installation in the nation. As a master air and industrial base, it supports U.S. and allied forces specializing in anti-submarine warfare and training of the best aviators in the world. Looking to increase energy resiliency in support of its mission and to reduce ashore vulnerabilities, NAS Jacksonville sought industry partners that could deliver energy reductions and operational improvements to 70 buildings, as well as provide improved capability to control its energy supply and distribution, without impacting existing budgets and base operation during critical operation. In coordination with the base leadership, ESG crafted an energy strategy in partnership with TECO Peoples Gas to install energy efficiency upgrades to base facilities and infrastructure which included lighting improvements, water saving retrofits, and steam to natural gas conversions. This project provided major annual cost savings and more than 65,000 MBTUs in annual energy savings at Naval Air Station Jacksonville, reducing site energy intensity by over 22 percent annually.

North Chicago Veterans Affairs (VA) Medical Center needed an innovative way to improve energy service and reduce costs for their 40 building and 400 bed campus. The Center also needed the capability to utilize a secure source of energy and develop a campus energy self sufficiency program with low risk and no impact to the hospital’s services and all of this at no cost to VA or taxpayers.

Energy Systems Group developed a cutting edge solution that leveraged the Enhanced- Use-Lease concept to dramatically improve the energy security for the entire campus. In partnership with the VA leadership, ESG designed, constructed and now operates a full-service energy center which provides electricity and steam to the medical center and associated facilities. In addition, this energy center will also serve the needs of adjacent Navy training barracks to maximize utility effectiveness and cost savings to the U.S Government. Through this on-going $29 million partnership, VA benefits include:

Financing Package to Pay for Projects Without Any Capital Expense from VA
Reliable & Secure Source of Energy to Meet all Campus Needs
Reduced Energy and Operation Costs to Support Existing Hospital Mission
Energy Self-Sufficiency for the Veterans Affairs Medical Center

Established in 1880, Picatinny Arsenal is one of the oldest military installations in the U.S. Situated on a 6,500-acre research and development campus in the northwest corner of northwestern New Jersey, Picatinny operates 2.7 million square feet of indoor floor space and supports over 4,000 personnel. ESG worked with Picatinny Arsenal to develop a plan to prioritize its most critical energy and infrastructure needs, which led to a project reconfiguring the Arsenal’s 60-year old central heating system. ESG installed new steam boilers, hot water boilers, furnaces, and unit heaters to serve the more than 250 existing buildings. An industrial grade monitoring and control system was installed to support future operation and maintenance requirements. The construction schedule required detailed coordination between ESG, subcontractors, the local gas utility, and Arsenal employees and decision makers. ESG operates and maintains the system under the operations portion of the contract allowing the Arsenal to focus greater resources on its core missions. The project is reducing Picatinny’s long-term operating costs by over $100 million and reducing harmful carbon, sulfur, and nitrogen dioxide emissions by an estimated 1 million tons.

Energy and Operational Savings over $107.7 Million

Project Benefits
The new natural gas distribution system and delivery of gas directly to most facilities allows the Arsenal flexible heating solutions. It also provides for major infrastructure improvements and progress towards standardization and modernization of systems and equipment.

The Naval Facilities Engineering Command (NAVFAC) Midwest awarded a $57-million, multi-year project to decentralize the Naval Station (NS) Great Lakes steam delivery system to Indiana-based Kroeschell ESG, L.L.C. a joint venture of energy services provider Energy Systems Group (ESG) and Kroeschell, Inc.

Over the three year period, Kroeschell ESG, L.L.C. joint venture disconnected 110 of the base’s buildings from the central steam plant and instead installed individual heating and hot water systems in each building. This improved the base’s overall energy efficiency and saves the Navy money.

New infrastructure, including new gas lines and other supporting systems, were also installed around the base. The existing aging steam lines were removed in a follow-on phase of the project.

NAVFAC anticipates this project will save the base around $9 million per year and reduce the base’s overall energy intensity, the amount of energy used per square foot of occupied space, by 21 percent.

The Metropolitan Nashville Airport Authority (MNAA) partnered with Energy Systems Group (ESG) to develop an innovative use for the former Hoover rock quarry located on the airport’s property. This geothermal lake plate cooling system project, dubbed the largest in North America, reduced the airport’s chilled water energy consumption from February to May 2016 by more than 50 percent.

The project was designed to reduce the airport’s electricity usage by 6,000 kilowatts of peak demand and result in annual savings of 1.3 million kilowatt hours. The MNAA is projected to save more than $430,000 per year in utility savings. In addition, the project allows for the use of quarry water for landscape irrigation resulting in savings of more than 30 million gallons of potable water per year.

The MNAA received multiple awards for the project including the 2017 Envision Silver Award for Sustainable Infrastructure - Water Source Geothermal Project and the 2016 Environmental Achievement Award in the Special/Innovative Projects category from the Airports Council International-North America. The MNAA was also awarded the 2015 Governor’s Environmental Stewardship Award in the Sustainable Performance category by the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation, recognizing its programs and initiatives that improve and protect the environment and natural resources.

This geothermal project represents ESG’s third phase of work with the Metropolitan Nashville Airport Authority. ESG previously completed a $4.6 million two-phase energy savings performance contract that primarily included lighting upgrades throughout the Nashville International Airport and other MNAA-owned buildings.

The 43-acre former Hoover rock quarry has an average depth of 150 feet, contains approximately 1.5 billion gallons of water and at a depth of 50 feet, maintains a constant temperature of 50 degrees Fahrenheit year round. The project was designed to replace the airport’s cooling towers by taking advantage of the water’s constant cool temperature to cool the water from the airport’s central plant. Water is cooled by circulating in a closed loop system through the submerged lake plate heat exchangers and then back to the airport’s central plant.

Savings Information
1.3 Million annual kilowatt-hours saved
6,000 annual kilowatts of peak demand electricity saved
More than $430,000 in annual utility savings
Annual reduction of 30 million gallons of potable water

The City of Bloomington’s solar project, initiated in 2017, includes the installation of solar panels on 30 city buildings and properties. As a result of this solar project, the City’s carbon footprint will be reduced by more than 4,720 metric tons of carbon dioxide per year. This is equivalent to one of the annual environmental benefits below: Creating enough energy to power more than 700 homes; Planting more than 5,560 acres of forest; Removal of emissions equivalent to more than 1,010 vehicles.

Annual Solar Output
Utilities: 4,161,000 kWh
Parks & Recreation: 1,492,000 kWh
Public Works: 690,000 kWh
TOTAL: 6,343,000 kWh

The Frederick Winchester Service Authority’s (FWSA) $46.5 million energy performance contract with Energy Systems Group (ESG) included the design and construction of comprehensive energy efficiency and infrastructure improvements at its Opequon Water Reclamation Facility. The 12.6 million gallon per day enhanced nutrient removal facility has very strict nitrogen and phosphorus removal requirements necessary to help preserve the well-being of the Chesapeake Bay. Not only will the project achieve operational savings to cover its cost, but it will also create a revenue stream for FWSA through liquid waste acceptance that will stabilize rates for customers and promote economic development in the Winchester City and Frederick County area.

The centerpiece of the FWSA project was the construction of a Green Energy Facility that processes municipal sludge and high-strength organic waste to produce methane gas, a renewable fuel, through the process of anaerobic co-digestion. The methane gas is then utilized to generate up to 848 kilowatts of electricity to power the plant under average loading conditions. The facility also includes a new sludge dewatering process that reduces the use of chemicals and cuts the amount of biosolids hauled to the regional landfill for final disposal by approximately 50 percent.

FWSA’s facility became operational in 2016 and can now take 100,000 gallons per day of high-strength waste. The facility currently takes FOG, DAF and dairy waste, and the revenue potential from the Green Energy Facility is between $1.25 and $1.5 million per year. One of the Green Energy Facility’s additional benefits is its ability to harvest phosphorus from the wastewater stream. This rare element is an essential ingredient for fertilizer and crop production.

The Town of Niskayuna, New York, has partnered with Energy Systems Group (ESG) to undertake a multi-year project to bring improvements to its 3 million gallons per day (MGD) wastewater treatment plant. In addition to meeting NYSDEC wet weather obligations, the town’s improvements, which include an expansion of the plant’s capacity to 3.5 MGD, will position Niskayuna for economic growth and a potential rise in the community’s population.

One stage of the project will see the town leveraging the anaerobic digesters’ excess capacity to accept organic waste to increase the production of biogas, which can then be converted to useable energy through cogeneration. The plant’s ability to produce energy on-site will not only make it an energy net zero facility, but also create a new source of revenue for the town, as excess energy can be sold back to the power grid.

Environmental Benefits:
The new systems will improve treatment during storms and wet weather, ensuring the protection of the nearby Mohwak River.
The plant upgrades will improve operational efficiency and reduce the wastewater treatment plant’s carbon footprint by incorporating renewable energy.

The Town of Niskayuna Water Resource Recovery Project Website

The Beckley Sanitary Board (BSB) has provided wastewater treatment services to the City of Beckley, West Virginia, and the surrounding areas for more than 80 years. In 2015, the Board decided to partner with Energy Systems Group (ESG) to implement improvements at its 8 million gallon per day Piney Creek Wastewater Treatment Plant, a facility that had not seen any major upgrades since the 1990s.

Where others might have seen only a laundry list of repairs at the Piney Creek facility, the Board’s leadership and the ESG team saw opportunity: the plant’s existing digesters, which were only at 20 percent capacity, had sufficient room to accept hauled-in organic waste, which could create a new source of revenue to pay for needed infrastructure improvements. Moreover, this new revenue, along with funds from a retiring existing revenue bond, would enable BSB to undertake the project without a required user rate increase to local citizens.

Construction is currently underway at Piney Creek to retrofit the facility for BSB’s new high-strength organic waste co-digestion program. Once the facility improvements are completed in 2018, the treatment plant will be able to accept and process up to 45,000 gallons per day of organic waste. ESG will manage the organics program at the Piney Creek facility and guarantee BSB an annual minimum amount of revenue from organics receipt of $400,000.

Energy Systems Group(ESG) is committed to the development and operation of renewable energy projects. We bring a unique understanding of the markets we serve, and provide the skill and discipline to deliver projects that meet the needs of farm partners and asset owners. We see this as a substantial step forward in the business and environmental management of dairies. Dairyland Farms is the first of several anaerobic digester projects in Wisconsin and nationwide for ESG.

Strategies & Solutions
Dairyland Farms: Third generation family farm with approximately 3,500 milking head
Third party ownership
ESG provides full service design, engineering, procurement, construction and operations management
Partnership with dairy farmer for fuel supply & logistics
Proven DVO, Inc. anaerobic digester technology
Project captures otherwise fugitive methane (converting a greenhouse gas emission to a renewable energy fuel)
The Project will generate certified carbon credits under the Climate Action Reserve’s US Livestock Protocol
Proven internal combustion engine technology, 1.2 MW nameplate output
Digester vessel measures 72ft x 316ft x 16ft and holds 2.3 million gallons
Renewable energy sold to Wisconsin Public Service under Biogas Feed-in-Tariff
Focus on Energy Grant Funds